As Rob has said in the past, while the Tyranid being in effect is causing a bit of a bumpy metagame patch right now, that's certainly not discouraging people from hitting up as many tournaments as possible, and today we're going to look at the other five events from the weekend just past. These are:

• The Grinning Demon Series GT
• The Branson Brawl GT
• Da North West GT
• The Pecking Order: Oh Sweet Summer Child GT
• Bembel Clash

If you're looking for any of this week's other events, check out yesterday's part 1. Now - more miniature violence.

Grinning Demon Series GT

54-player, 6-round Grand Tournament in Greater Sudbury, ON, CA on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Death and Zeal

Sam Procopio - Blood Angels

vs.

Daniel Platt - Harlequins: Dark Saedath with lots of small Bike units and a bumper crop of characters.

Thoughts

This game looks like it should be awesome to play out, as both sides have some great tools for specifically targeting the other, and both want to use precision melee to win the game. Blood Angels have gotten a new lease of life from Armour of Contempt as it's very good on Sanguinary Guard, something this list is fully ready to exploit. Light Saedath Harlequin lists would have fits trying to deal with it, but the extra AP and fight on death provided by Dark Deeds means that here this is game on. The Blood Angels have the advantage of having units that can actually soak up a charge, but the tradeoff for that is that their stuff is far more expensive, giving the Harlequins far more scope to make a profitable trade up at a crucial moment and pull ahead in the game. However, the Harlequins can't afford to be too bold either, as lurking amidst the Marine ranks is the threat of a well-timed Null Zone resulting in the swift annihilation of all clowns standing in a 6" radius. Even in the realm of objective play, these lists are hilariously well matched up - both have brought their faction's anti-ObSec abilities, so have power plays to make around flipping a key position. The Blood Angels also have quite a few cheap units to throw away on securing positions, and can demand early attention using the Incursors if needed.

So how do you play this from either side? Obviously you want to aim to set up a turn where you can sweep through a lot of the opponent at once, and ideally minimise your losses in response. From the Marine side of things, you probably want to use one unit of Incursors to try and bait commitment to an objective, then see if it's possible to pull off some transport wraps with the Sanguinary Guard, the best way of neutralising Troupes without taking hits in response. As Harlequins, it feels like you want to force the Marines to get into multiple fights at once, reducing their ability to surgically deplete your numbers, and using Fight on Death to ensure things go your way. I think, anyway - I'd be fascinated to know what the plans were here, as the game seems to have lived up to its promise - it was incredibly close, with the Blood Angels narrowly taking it.

Result

Blood Angels Victory - 92-89

Sam Procopio - Blood Angels - 1st Place

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Blood Angels Jetpack Spam

Thoughts

Once again we confront the duality of Blood Angels - a lot of stuff about their Codex is underwhelming, but their Chapter Tactic, Sanguinary Guard and Character stuff is so great that the right pilot can still find ways to make them really sing, especially as a plan of "fly around the table punching stuff" is generally rewarded by 9th's missions. Armour of Contempt's synergy with Guard has really put the spotlight on the Sons of Sanguinius, and well done to Sam for making them shine again.

The Best of the Rest

There were N more players on X-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Daniel Platt - Harlequins: See showdown.
• 3rd - Danny Stewart - Tyranids: Leviathan Warrior spam with six Pyrovores in a Tyrannocyte running backup.
• 4th - Tim Deetlefs - Harlequins: More Dark Saedath, pretty similar to the second place build but with slightly more upgrades instead of a second Jester.
• 5th - Mike Harrison - T'au Sept: Tau Sept Goodstuff with three big Crisis units.

2022 Branson Brawl GT

56-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Branson, MO, US on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Recover the Relics

Richard Smith - Imperial Knights:

vs.

Mike Guarriello - Imperium: Adeptus Custodes with a trio of Freeblade Helverins in tow for durable backfield shooting.

Thoughts

Two different plays with the Imperial Knight codex on show here - a synergy-heavy House Taranis build in one corner, and Adeptus Custodes augmented with a trio of Freeblade Armigers on the other.

The Taranis build digs deep into the cool combos you can set up with Imperial Knights - you've got Knight of Mars available on the Errant so that you can reliably drop a pile of mortals on someone with Calculated Targeting, and a Knight Paladin with Princeps so that the Knight Crusader can be sporting the incredibly good Paladin's Duty buff (re-rolling hits and wounds of 1). To really maximise this, the Crusader has Blessed by the Sacristans so that its guns are hurling out plenty of mortal wounds in addition to other pain, making this list hugely threatening to anything relying on invulnerable saves. Circling back round to Bondsman buffs, there are exactly enough uses of these available that all four Armigers can be under the effect of one all the time as well as the Crusader taking the Princeps boost, ensuring that they're always subject to damage reduction.

Over on the Custodes side, you've got lots of defensively specced infantry alongside one powerhouse bike unit and some powerful characters, with the Armigers slotting into a role that would perhaps normally be filled by Dreadnoughts. As to why you'd want to do that, I think there are a few pretty compelling reasons. With fewer uses of the Custodes defensive stratagems available to you, and them not applying to the Dreadnoughts any more, bringing in some still very durable models from another faction (with access to some defensive tricks of their own like Survivors of Strife) seems like a pretty decent way to respond. The fact that they're faster than the Dreadnoughts, ObSec and count as five models also combos very well with the durable core of this army - they can range ahead of the infantry blocks and flip objectives off the opponent. You do lose access to synergies like re-rolls from Trajann, so it's not entirely a one-way trade, but this definitely feels like one of the better places to slot this trio in.

The melta shots also help in this game, and definitely give the Custodes a bit more of a fighting chance than they'd have on their own. The concern for the Golden Host is that they really don't have much that can deplete the Knights at range, as at only S8 the salvo launchers aren't nearly enough to get the job done unless they get extremely lucky. Bondsman-buffed Armigers are also a big headache for the army to deal with in melee, as damage reduction is excellent against Custodes melee (and all their incidental shooting). The Custodes side definitely wants to lean on its Freeblades and salvos to smoke the Knight Warglaives as quickly as possible - removing the mobile ObSec of the Knight list will really help with scoring. Even if they do that, however, they're going to have a fairly challenging time, as this Knight army is great at killing Custodes (lots of damage 3 stuff) and can also put the Freeblades in the bin fast. The one notable bit of anti-synergy from the Freeblades is that they give the Emperor's Chosen list a vulnerability to Mortal Wounds that they wouldn't otherwise have, and the Knights are perfectly set up to exploit that. The melta and salvo launcher setup is still in the range where it could take a swing and a miss, or only put down one Armiger in a turn, whereas once the Freeblades commit at least two of them are going to immediately be reduced to slag. Once that happens the Knights can play a fairly aggressive bullying game, especially if they drop the bikes next (as a charge from that full unit starts looking pretty scary into the big Knights). All this gets exacerbated by the mission - the Custodes can't play for Stranglehold without being extremely aggressive, which doesn't feel like a winning prospect against the Knights, and it's also one of the few matchups where they can't expect to reliably Grind or pull ahead on the mission Primary either.

I think the Custodes could definitely create a win here, but from the scoreline it looks like they put in a decent attempt, then the factors above dragged them down.

Result

Imperial Knights Victory - 92-63

Richard Smith - Imperial Knights - 1st Place

Imperial Knight Paladin. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

House Taranis

Thoughts

Covered in the showdown - this build goes hard on playing to the strengths and synergies that the Imperial Knights codex offers, and it's great to see that rewarded with an event win. The book really grew on me as I worked on our review, and I'm hopeful that we'll see more lists like this out and about!

The Best of the Rest

There were 2 players who drew in the final, having entered undefeated, then 7 players on 4-1. These were:

• 2nd - Stephen Henderson - Tyranids: Monster mashy Leviathan Goodstuff with lots of Carnifexes.
• 3rd - Jason Merten - Tyranids: A different spin on Leviathan sporting a big Termagant blob protecting a Tervigon, along with some of the standard Monsters.
• 4th - Scott Sasser - Salamanders: A big Relic Terminator tarpit, plenty of melta shooting, then various sacrificial units to fight for objectives.
• 5th - Howard Watts - Ultramarines: Redemptor and Invictor spam.
• 6th - Tony Thebeau - Harlequins: Light Saedath with a big bolas bike squad and a trio of Voidweavers.
• 7th - Ethan Hold - Grey Knights: Paladins and Interceptors as Rapiers.
• 8th - Taylor Barger - Chaos Daemons: Be'lakor and Four Keepers.
• 9th - Nicholas Rupel - Chaos Knights: House Vextrix War Dog spam plus an Abominant tooled up with defensive boosts (most importantly Blessing of the Dark Master acting as a wrecking ball.
• 10th - Mike Guarriello - Imperium: See showdown.

Da North West GT

43-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Horwich, England, GB on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Data-Scry Salvage

Mike Porter - Thousand Sons: Cult of Duplicity with two big Scarab units.

vs.

Markus Hinson - Craftworlds: Ulthwe with a wide variety of Aspect Warriors.

Thoughts

A proper Aspect Warrior rainbow from the Asuryani here, providing damage dealers that can take on all sorts of different targets, particularly at short range where the Fire Dragons and Warp Spiders excel. The army doesn't have that many units, but as long as it banks some saves with Strands of Fate that can sometimes work to its advantage - if the only things the opponent can easily shoot at are the Crimson Hunter and Wave Serpent, then unless they have lots of shots it might just get repelled.

Here, however, it hits a very nasty counter, especially on this mission. Scarab Occults are a real pain for Craftworlds to wipe out post Armour of Contempt, as they're one of the few things that can stand up to proper shuriken onslaughts, and their invulnerable save means that they're only going to lose so many to Fire Dragons even when they pop off. They're also one of the very worst targets for Warp Spiders to try and engage with, as between AoC and All is Dust they straight up keep their 2+ save against them. Particularly with the very grindy shooting that the Scarabs can put out in response, plus the Thousand Sons mortal output (even though it's somewhat blunted by Ulthwe), that makes winning any sort of damage race here extremely hard for the Aeldari - they'll probably have to commit (then lose) more resources than they'd deny the Thousand Sons in any confrontation.

On some missions the Aeldari can adapt to this - avoid direct confrontation, use expendable stuff like the Rangers to play for objectives early (plus prevent Sorcerous Facade or the Umbralefic Crystal popping off), and try and work around the Scarabs till some other units can be picked off, reducing how hard the Thousand Sons can counterattack. Once that's done, try and take out most of a Scarab unit, and pull back any point deficit from there.

On Data Scry Salvage, that's massively harder to do. To make any reasonable inroad on Primary, and to prevent the Thousand Sons from pulling miles ahead in the early and mid game, the Aeldari are going to have to engage more directly. Do that, however, and the damage equation bites again, likely leaving them without the resources left to pull back on scoring later on. Markus put up a score that's definitely good for a losing game on Data Scry, but the Thousand Sons still won a convincing victory overall.

Result

Thousand Sons Victory - 95-68

Mike Porter - Thousand Sons - 1st Place

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Cult of Duplicity

Thoughts

Very grindy, very resilient to shooting, and very strong at conquering the primary - Armour of Contempt has pushed Scarab Occults to even greater heights than they were already operating at, and given Mike was smashing events with Thousand Sons before that, it's no surprise to see him rocking a victory here.

The Best of the Rest

There were 7 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Vik Vijay - Adepta Sororitas: A go-wide Bloody Rose list with loads of small units to dominate the board and threaten to trade up.
• 3rd - Adam Lane - Adepta Sororitas: Bloody Rose with lots of Novitiates, Repentia and Zephyrim.
• 4th - Markus Hinson - Asuryani: See showdown
• 5th - Keith Wilkinson - Adeptus Custodes: A very straight-up Emperor's Chosen Goodstuff lists with Bikes, Dreads and troops.
• 6th - Alex Cable - Tyranids: Territorial instincts/Augmented Ferocity monster mash.
• 7th - Jason Staerck - Ynnari: The Yncarne and a Wraithknight, incredible energy, no notes.
• 8th - Terry Haverty - Farsight Enclaves: Two big units of Crisis, lots of Infantry (including two squads in Devilfish) and some Commanders plus Shadowsun to finish.

The Pecking Order: Oh Sweet Summer Child GT

37-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Olympia, Washington, US on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Note - we're showcasing the game between the players who went second and third here, as they were the undefeated table going into the final round.

Matchup & Mission - The Scouring

Donald Plummer - Tau: A very well-rounded Tau Sept Goodstuff build with a bit of everything - Longstrike, one big Crisis Team, two smaller ones for precision use, Commanders, then a few Kroot to run disruption.



vs.

James Lee - Adeptus Custodes: Relatively shooty Emperor's Chosen with an Inquisitor for Secondaries.

Thoughts

Tau vs. Custodes here, with both builds showing off some interesting tech. On the Tau side, the army eschews the normal setup of three big Crisis bombs to build for To The Last - this goes on one big Crisis squad then two of the Commanders, who are very easy to protect. It's also got plenty of objective disruption from two units of Kroot and two of Hounds, and that adds up to a list that can demand that the opponent engage on its terms - lock in the To The Last points, disrupt their early Primary scoring, then force them to face the Tau's guns if they want to stay in the game (which is never fun). Over on the Custodes side, two Caladius Tanks take maximum advantage of the Emperor's Chosen trait, and provide the extra weight of big shots needed to potentially punk targets like Harpies out early on, helping the army get a fighting chance to stay on the table.

In this matchup on The Scouring, the decisions in the Tau list pay off particularly hard. There is almost no way that the Custodes can disrupt To The Last if the Tau don't want them to, locking in those points, and if the Custodes want to do the same in response then they have to keep the tanks hidden, otherwise they risk taking a one way trip to railgun town. Given the objective setup of the Scouring, that leaves the Custodes forced to move forward if they want to score any points at all, bringing them into the range of the Tau's guns, and with a very tough set of secondary picks to make, as every turn of Stranglehold scored is going to represent multiple dead units, and if Mental Interrogation is chosen then there's a very real chance the Tau just hold their characters back and aim to zero it out. The Tau don't love having to move closer to the Custodes to score, to be fair, but the difference is that they have some units that are purely sacrificial, and they're not going to lose all the stuff they use to hold their nearby objectives each turn, whereas there's a risk that the Custodes might.

As it happens, Donald was able to send me the scorecard for this game, and you can really see how the pressures that the Tau army applied brough the Custodes down. Absent anything else, they had to pick Banners and Stranglehold to go with To The Last, but when the Tau got first turn they were able to stop Banners going up turn one with the Kroot Hounds, capping the scoring there, and after a few turns of scoring Stranglehold the Custodes were just out of stuff to push onto the central objective, allowing the Tau to run away with the scoring from there (though the Custodes did put up decent numbers on the other side).

Result

Tau Victory - 94-77

Hank Adams - Ulthwe - 1st Place

Eldrad Ulthran by Corrode

The List

Archetype

Ulthwe Goodstuff

Thoughts

But who's this sneaking past our top table contenders? None other than the forces of Ulthwe, using their mastery of fate to lock in a series of big wins to take the trophy. This list is another one that brings together a lot of different Aspect Warriors, here in sufficient numbers that it can credibly make a play for the Wrath of Khaine secondary, and just generally benefits from being able to put big damage on almost anything. While not as aggressively built for To The Last as some of the Hail of Doom builds, it can also still play that game, as with Vectored Engines on the Fire Prisms one of them can poke out, obliterate something with Linked Fire to bring the shots of both, then Battle Focus back to safety. That's certainly one way to deal with big bugs!

It's definitely notable how much the departure of spammed indirect has opened up this kind of list, as by not needing to bring transports for all the Aspect Warriors, it has a lot more points to play with for getting in damage dealers. While Hail of Doom is undoubtably the top Aeldari dog right now, this kind of build (which you can do as either Ulthwe or Biel Tan) does have plenty to offer too, and if Hail gets some sort of nerf (which let's be honest, it should) then armies like this might come to the fore.

Donald Plummer - T'au Empire - 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Donald's Tau. Credit: Donald Plummer

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Tau Sept Goodstuff

Thoughts

Already discussed in the showdown - the key difference to the other Tau lists we've seen this week is the choice to build for To The Last to land on the Commanders, generally substantially broadeing the number of games it's safe to take it in. That looks like it paid off on the top table, and being able to dictate your opponents moves is always valuable to an army like Tau who can really punish aggression. Congratulations to Donald on the undefeated second place.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - James Lee - Adeptus Custodes: See showdown.
• 4th - Zak Nelson - Imperial Knights: House Taranis with the classic three big Knight, four Armiger setup, featuring a tooled up Paladin as the Warlord, a Gallant as a wrecking ball and a Crusader for fire support.
• 5th - Dustin Lane - Tau: An unusual Dal'yth build that's very close to being all-battlesuits, with Aun'shi the only footslogger accompanying lots of Crisis, lots of Stealth and a big Broadside team.
• 6th - Jason Byrd - Chaos: Death Guard with a Dreadblade War Dog providing some extra flexible pressure.
• 7th - Dan Biringer - Tau: Another more esoteric Tau build, this time featuring Bor'kan, Broadsides and loads of Strike Teams.

Bembel Clash #3

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Hirzenhain, HE, DE on June 11 2022. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Tide of Conviction

Florian Schmidt - Iron Hands: The Iron Hand Successor build that was performing very strongly before the 2022 codexes hit, featuring Devastators in a pod, lots of VanVets (cheaping out on shields a bit to keep costs down) and a Character Contemptor. Also features some quite sturdy objective pieces in two units of Infiltrators with the Helix Gauntlet.

vs.

Zack Martin - Ynnari: A proper combined Harlequin/Craftworld Ynnari build, with the Yncarne leading up a mixture of Aspect Warriors and Harlequin Troupes into battle.

Thoughts

A classic versus a newcomer here (unless we count 8th Edition Ynnari as a classic, I guess). The Iron Hands Successor list was one of the best armies out there till 2022 turned the power curve on its head, and Armour of Contempt has given it a notable boost, allowing it to keep costs down on some of its units by cutting storm shields and create very durable board control with Infiltrators, helping ensure that the Drop Pod has a place to land. With Master Artisans in the Chapter Tactic, little bitty units like Suppressors and the multi-melta Land Speeder can add quite a bit of value too, and this list is a very powerful all-rounder.

On the other side of the table, this Ynnari list rules, going hard on pushing at the weirder edges of the Aeldari book. Three units of Rangers provides some cheap screening and early ObSec, but the real prize there is unlocking the ability to bring three Harlequin Troupes, two of which are pretty hefty. These are leaning on a cunning combo that Zack has found - the Ambush of Blades Craftworld Warlord trait is one of the few things in the book that only requires the <CRAFTWORLD> keyword to activate rather than <CRAFTWORLD> ASURYANI, meaning that the Harlequins are eligible. Turns out that +1 AP on a big Harlequin troupe is vastly better than anything you can do with this in pure Craftworlds, importing some Dark Saedath energy and combining it with Fight First and the ability to get +1 to wound from Ancestor's Grace, making them exceptionally deadly. The Yncarne will be throwing that power out super reliably, as they've got a Farseer to hype them up with Focus Will while also throwing out mortals from Kuornos' Bow (still good with Mark even if you aren't in Hail), and also represents a vicious potential counterattack if the opponent destroys something at the wrong time. This army is relatively brittle if confronted in force, but it's also very easy to hide, so the challenge is getting a swing at it without opening yourself up to some really brutal counterpunches.

Can the Iron Hands do that? They've got ways and means, yeah. The Infiltrators are really good here - they are tough enough (especially in cover) to need a real answer, and can easily crush the Rangers if needed, though the flip side is that they are pricy enough that losing them stings. The cheaper VanVet units are also what you want here - the big Harlequin units would still smoke a five shield unit, so cheaper is better. The Fight First that the Ynnari have can be a bit of a challenge though, as it means if momentum starts going their way it could be difficult to push back, though Soul Horror from the Culexus could help there in a pinch (and their presence making the Craftworld casting less reliable is just generally great). The mission also feels like it pulls in both directions - on the one hand, the Harlequins charging onto the Space Marines near objectives feels like the best tool for flipping points and scoring the mission primary that either side has, but on the other the Marines could choose to focus on grinding the Aeldari out and lean on their higher resilience to win out later on.

Valid choices for both sides, and likely to be a very cagey game, as both lists can absolutely punish a screw up. So cagey, in fact, that it ended in a draw - I think a first for a CI showdown? Well done to both players.

Result

Draw! 57-57

Florian Schmidt - Iron Hands - 1st Place

Rainbow Warriors Relic Contemptor with Volkite Culverins by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Iron Hands Successors

Thoughts

While losing bodyguarded Dreadnoughts hurts a lot, none of the other reasons these lists were good have really changed, the metagame just got way more cutthroat. Great at both shooting and melee, with the Iron Hands superdoctrine boosting the former and Whirlwind the latter, extremely good stratagems, and a Character Contemptor that's still a pain to deal with even without complete unshootability. All potent, made better by Armour of Contempt, and one to watch if the top builds get some points adjustments (or Marines get buffs).

Zack Martin - Ynnari - 2nd Place

Credit: Wings

The List

See showdown.

Archetype

Ynnari

Thoughts

This list rules, there's so much different stuff going on with it and it can do some wild things. The Yncarne's datasheet is fantastic, and this army does exactly what you want to get the most out of it - puts tonnes of tricky decisions in front of the opponent where if they screw up and kill the wrong thing at the wrong time the price will be exhorbitant. The list also makes really good use of the full suite of Revenant powers that the Yncarne has access to, increasing their value even further. Super excited to see this doing so well, as it looks like an absolute blast.

The Best of the Rest

There were N more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Reinhard Beidinger - Tyranids: Kraken pressure with lots of Warriors and Raveners.
• 4th - Jannik Röttgen - Asuryani: Mech Biel Tan, lots of Aspect Warriors of various flavours in transports, then powerful Psykers and Asurmen leading them up.
• 5th - Tobias Wesselmann - Asuryani: Hail of Doom backed up by Fire Prisms.
• 6th - Lukas Lötscher - Asuryani & Harlequins: Ulthwe centred around the Avatar and Fire Prisms from the Craftworlds, then a small utility detachment of Dark Saedath models for objective and finesse play.

Wrap Up

That's it for this week, and it was certainly a hell of a week to come back to. It's going to be all change in a few week's time if the Nephilim Previews were anything to go by, but we've still got some big events to play out in the current format, with big majors on both sides of the Atlantic next week and a host of GTs. See you then!

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